With that being said, I must address this story. For, as you can see here, it becomes that much more notorious (see the right-hand sidebar – this is a daily publication sent to members of the Tennessee Bar Association).

I have said it before, and will maintain that we must address the issues facing our schools. We must, because internally or externally, they will be solved by others. And, it is not just a federal investigation. We can continue to be concerned with how each of our schools performs with regard to state and federal standard.

Again, I will continue to state that there is not a silver bullet solution, so we must continue to leave all options on the table as we move forward.

With that being said, the Mayor Billy Paul Carneal spoke at the last meeting to convey concerns that the City of Springfield apparently has moving forward with the entire redistricting process. I believe those concerns can be summarized in the following quote (See the full story here):

“We just think it would be a little fairer if we did not have so many representing a few, but had fewer representing a larger [city] base,” he concluded.

I am not quite sure I agree with this proposition. This is a county matter, and though I can understand the concerns that the City of Springfield may have with Robertson County Schools, I do not think that the redistricting process is the proper direction to meet this challenge. The reason-being is that if the Redistricting Committee began accommodating each and every municipality in such a way, then it would be impossible for lines to be drawn.

Friday, August 12, 2011

These “Visualization Tools” offer insight on a county-by-county level and insight into economic data and population growth:

Explore Tennessee state data with one of these interactive download or visualization tools developed in partnership with the University of Tennessee Center for Business and Economic Research, the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) and the University of Tennessee Department of Geography.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Let me just acknowledge something at the outset of this post, I am well aware that charter schools raise ire and confusion. Frankly, you hear a wide array of positions with regard to charter schools in/out of Tennessee.

In a follow-up piece from the ‘School Zone Meeting’ where I referenced Robertson County Schools creating a “task-force” for analyzing and proposing solutions to the issues that Springfield City schools and Robertson County Schools face.

I have been selected to this task-force, and I will look forward to our first meeting later this month.

Here are the other members on the “Study Committee for Review and Recommendation of Educational Initiatives in the Springfield School Cluster:”

Friday, August 5, 2011

It looks as though Robertson County is not the only County facing recognizable challenges in education – socioeconomic, ethnic and community-based schools:

It was back in October when Franklin Special School District leaders started to work on a plan to bring socioeconomic and ethnic balance to its seven schools and 3,800 students. More than nine months later, it’s still unclear what direction the district will take.

It looks as though Williamson County – yes, that Williamson County faces some of those same challenges we do here.

It will be interesting to watch much like it will be interesting to watch just what we do here in Robertson County.

Officials in Georgia, New York and several other states have said they may ask for waivers, but Tennessee appears to be the first to do so. A yes would exempt the state from applying No Child Left Behind sanctions — which include offering students tutoring or transfers to other schools and firing principals and teachers — and allow it to use its own standards to hold failing schools and districts accountable. (emphasis added)

What I may humbly add on this topic: One thing that I have learned is that each of you have an opinion on education, a strong opinion; and, usually those are plural – opinions. With that being said, I think each of us could agree that a waiver from NCLB would be a positive for our teachers.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Here is a summary of last night’s Robertson County Commission (“RCC”) Budget Committee Meeting (“BC”):

There were presentations from various agencies including the Gorham-MacBane Public Library; as well as discussions regarding funding for various non-profit/not-for-profit agencies.

Following this discussion, the BC considered cuts to several departments, and even considered cutting Robertson County Animal Control. However, this was general discussion and no motion/proposal was specifically considered by the BC.

After this general discussion, the BC came to the conclusion that they did not necessarily know what direction that the RCC would want to go with the Budget. Meaning, would the RCC pursue further cuts, or would the RCC consider the “needed” $.40 property tax increase. When the discussion turned to some form of both cuts and tax increses, the BC decided to send the discussion to the RCC.